Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-09-15
DAILY HERALD.
A RAGE FOR DECORATION.
heather Takes tho Place ef
FrescOes.

GsfaeGGT S&Acs AAP h@co
FrescOes.
:. Leather. ehf"
"Yes'm."
You don't mean to tell me it's
leather"
Yes'm."
"It's beautiful, and will make very
handsome decoration, but | had no
idea it was leather.
"It is leather, madame; and l may
tell YOU, furthermore, that if you order
your rooms to be covered with it you
will not make q mistake. It's the very
latest fashion. It's all the rage.
Everybody who pretends to style now
adays must be in the fashion, and
fashion says that the halls, walls OF
dining-rooms and libraries and back
parlors must be covered with leather" f"
"Expensive?"
eyes SIN, or it wouldn't be fashiona-
bie.''
Chow much will it cost for a
room?"
'sThat depends upon the size Of the
reom, and the value of the leather
used, but in a general way may say
from $500 to $3000."
"Whew
That was part of the conversation
l overheard in the most fashionable
Fifth avenue decorators parlOr one
day this week. A lady had run into
town from Newport to have the
decorators go to work in her house to
put it in order for the winter. She
was talking to the gentlemanly and
wealthy proprietor, and he was ex-
planning to her the latest craze-the
use of leather for decoration in rooms
instead Of frescoes. After the lady
had ordered workman to her resi-
dence to make an estimate of the
work to be done l fell to talking with
the proprietor. He told me what
everybody about to begin the fail and
winter nuisance of house cleaning and
decorating will be glad to know, and
that is that fresco work, no matter
how elaborate and costly, is out OF
style, and decorated leather has taken
its place. OF course only the very
rich can indulge in such luxury, but
all the world is interested in knowing
what the very rich are doing and how
thev decorate as we'll as furnish their
houses.
From purely artistic point of view
Banker Henry G. Marquand is said to
own the handsomest residence in
town. 1t is marvel of good taste-a
marvel because the temptation to do
something luminiferous in house-mak-
ing these days is very great. The
grand hall of his palace is hung en-
tirely with Venetian leather. The
material is stretched on frames, and
these are placed on the walls in
panels, making lit convenient to re.
move the work at any time without
injury to the painting. Mr.. Marquand
is an enthusiastic lover OF the beauti-
full. His collection of paintings in.
.cludes several of the old masters as
well as those of the present school
The house is furnished in unusually
good taste. The drawing-room SCI
was made in London from designs
furnished by Alma Tadema and Sil
Frederick Leighton. Leather decora
tions are seen everywhere in thu
house. Screens, chairs and almos
every article OF furniture may be fount
containing some reproduction of an
tique leather.
Whitelaw Reid's mansion has con
siderable leather on its walls. Th
dining-room and library and Mr.. Reid
sanctum are finished in leather, ant
very handsome rooms they are. Cyru
w. Fields dining-room and Hbrar
are similarly decorated. The hous
of Secretary Whitney on Fifth avenu
contains some choice and valuable
decorations in leather. So does tn
homes of the Astors. The white mar
BILE palace in which Mrs. A. 7. Stew
art lived and died contains severa
rooms whose walls are covered witt
dhe choicest leather that money coul,
buy. The Vanderbilt palace is notabl
in this respect also. So, too, is tn
home of Judge Hilton, August Be-
mont, Roswell P. Flower and scor
OF others whose names are well know
to newspaper readers.
At the house of Charles R. Yandel
was ehown an original Italian frieze (
leather in forty-two panels, with boz
ders about three feet high and fo'
and half broad. 1t is magnif1cel
piece of art work 1t was painted
the latter part of the seventeenth Gel
tury and was procured by its presel
owner from an old palace in Avignol
France. The paintings tell an allego
ical story OF an Italian soldiers lite.
Only the finest grades of leather a
used for decorations, and even the
must be unusually well tanned. I'll
decorated leather is often place
where there is danger of its being we
1t must therefore be made impervio
to water, and will then last mar
years, and, like old wine, impro
with age. Oak bark is, of cours
principally used in tanning. III
skins and hides, as those of larg
animals are called, are first prepare
by washing and soaking in a solutic
OF lime to loosen the hair and out
membrane. All skin, consist of tv
parts, the cults or true skin, which
delicate tissue of fibres crossing eaC
other in all directions and full of lift
conical pores, and the cuticle, or out
coating. This latter is removed tn
the tan may be absorbed on both sid
of the leather. After they are sufl
GENTLY lined the skins are stretche
singly on an arched wooden or stor
bench, one end of which is conside
ably raised. The hair and cuticle a
removed with an iron scraper. I'll
skins intended for soft leather are tht
immersed in an alkali, to withdraw {
the lime, which would make the
hard and stiff. They are then soak,
in diluted acid, which swells the
and opens their pores to receive Il
infusion Of tan more rapidly. TIL,
are then piled in pots, with grou
tan between each skin, and then fill
with water. The pits are emptied a
the hides replaced with fresh bark a
water about every two or three montl
The time required for tanning hi
of ordinary thickness by this means
two years. This appears a long tin